Diversity and inclusion

We aim to embed an inclusive and diverse culture across a range of areas including gender, ethnicity, LGBT+ and disability. We are taking a number of specific actions to achieve our goals.

UK Employee Resource Groups

In the UK our employees have access to Employee Resource Groups which promote diversity and make sure everyone feels included. We have twelve active networks in the UK which focus on gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith, working parents and disability.

Additionally we have a number of common interest groups including a Military Network, a Flex Network, Mindfulness group, Hellenic Network, and the HSBC Chinese Community. Read more about the role of employee networks on the HSBC corporate website.

Awards and recognition

HSBC in the UK has been recognised in a number of external awards and industry benchmarks. These include being named:

• Top 100 Employer in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index in 2015, 2016 and 2017
• Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2015, 2016 and 2017
• HSBC UK ranked No.29 (out of 50) in the Inclusive Companies Benchmark 2018
• HSBC UK named a Best Employer for Race 2017 and 2018
• HSBC UK named Outstanding Employer in the Investing in Ethnicity & Race Awards 2018
• HSBC UK winner in the Leadership category of the Race Equalities Awards 2018

Read more about HSBC’s global policies on diversity and inclusion on our corporate website.

Gender

For HSBC UK as a whole our goal on gender diversity is for 30 per cent of senior positions to be held by women by 2020. This is in line with the global target of the wider HSBC Group. We define a senior manager as an employee performing roles classified as 0, 1, 2 or 3 in our Global Career Band Structure.

As of September 2018, more than 30 per cent of senior management roles in HSBC UK were held by women.

Our efforts targeting 50/50 gender balance target for recruitment into senior roles in our new HSBC UK new head office in Birmingham contributed to this. This recruitment is now largely complete with 43 per cent of head office roles held by female colleagues (as of September 2018).

We continue to focus on improving gender balance at a senior management level and are taking a number of steps to ensure truly meritocratic recruitment and progression. These include:

• Providing guidance and training for managers and employees to help them recognise and address bias
• Ensuring that all recruitment panels include at least one female panel member
• Expanding mentoring and sponsorship opportunities
• Promoting a family-friendly working culture that offers flexible working, shared parental leave, and a guarantee for returning parents to work part-time
• Offering a support programme for new parents before, during and after they take parental leave

HSBC UK works in partnership with other organisations committed to gender diversity such as the 30% Club and Business in the Community, and participates in industry networks and events such as Women on Boards, Opportunities4Women and OutWomen.

We also continue to work with our UK employee resource groups focusing on gender (Balance, and the Women’s Development Association) to ensure they support our ambitions and make sure their activities continue to add value for our customers and employees.

Gender Pay Gap Reporting

The UK Government is keen for employers to provide greater transparency on the gender pay gap in their organisations. We fully support the intention behind increased transparency and will be responding to the new gender pay gap reporting requirements in accordance with the upcoming regulation. You can find our gender pay gap report on the Diversity and inclusion page of the HSBC corporate website.